Egypt Denies Received SOS Signal From Missing EgyptAir Passenger Plane

The Egyptian Armed Forces have denied earlier reports that it had received a distress signal from the MS804 passenger jet that disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea earlier on Thursday, Egypt’s Veto news portal said citing the country’s Armed Forces spokesman.

CAIRO, May 19 (Sputnik) – Earlier a source from EgyptAir said that the military had received an SOS signal at 4:26 a.m. Cairo time.

“It has been reported by the search and rescu teams of the armed forces that a distress message from the emergency systems of the plane was received at 04:26 Cairo time at dawn today,” according to a statement on the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The statement also said that both Greek and Egyptian military forces are conducting search and rescue operations in the presumed region where the aircraft disappeared off the radar.

The flight path of EgyptAir flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo is seen on a flight tracking screen May 19, 2016

© REUTERS / Courtesy Flightradar24.com

Egypt Air Flight MS804 departed from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 23:09 GMT. The aircraft was heading for Cairo International Airport. According to the airline, there were a total of 66 people on board the plane, including 56 passengers.

#MS804 flight: what we know so far https://t.co/qT139bWOOd @EGYPTAIR pic.twitter.com/ABYPkOPAgP

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 19, 2016